When hairstylist Dimitris Giannetos and I FaceTime, he’s in Paris between styling sessions. “I’m about to go do Ms. Demi Moore’s hair,” he says with a giant grin. It’s all a bit surreal for the Greek hairstylist who moved to the United States in 2012 at the age of 29.
Lovingly nicknamed (at least, by me) “The Glam God,” Giannetos’s story reads like the hero of a bildungsroman. “I was at the peak of my career in Greece and wondering what to do next,” he says. “When I decided to leave it all behind, people asked, ‘Are you crazy? You’re going to just move to America?’ But I wanted to try. The only problem was I didn’t speak a word of English when I moved to New York.”
But it was a chance encounter with television personality Maria Menounos while on a trip back home in Greece that set his path forward. Once he moved to the West Coast, it all started coming together. “Once I moved to LA, I found that I was a little insecure when speaking English,” he reflects. “But a client at the time said ‘Dimitris, this is your charm. We have many American hairstylists who speak perfect American English here.’ And I realized it was true.”
Giannetos’s accent is just one of his many captivating things about him. The others include his sparkling blue eyes and the way he simply makes people—whether they are a supermodel or everyday person—feel comfortable. Now, he spends time on the road with the Clooneys (he’s not only working with Amal, but also did George’s grooming for a GQ cover), creating playful beauty looks for clients like Hadid and Joey King, and continues to “tick every dream box for my career.”
“I have admired Amal my entire life,” he says. “She’s so warm and inviting. I was connected through Charlotte Tilbury and have been doing her hair and makeup ever since. Both her and George are so amazing at what they do, and then there’s all the work they offer to the world with the Clooney Foundation. I have learned so much from them.”
More recently, he did Demi Moore’s hair for the Oscars and has joined team Gigi, styling her new signature look, a flipped bob. It’s a lot of glamour, but he says it’s his mother who keeps him grounded. “I was recently talking to her on the phone and said, ‘Mom, I’m at the Oscars!’ She replied, ‘What are the Oscars?’”
Through it all, he stays true to a beauty rule he learned while training in Greece. “My rule when it comes to beauty is never following the rules,” he says. “I just want to see women feeling pretty. When they look in the mirror and have joy on their face after working together, that is the satisfaction that keeps me going.”
